Years ago, I found myself sitting in law school in Moot Court wearing an oversized itchy blue suit. It was a horrible experience. In a desperate attempt to avoid anything like that in the future I enrolled in a tax course. I loved it. I signed up for another. Before I knew it, in addition to my JD, I had a LL.M Taxation. I needed only to don my cape…. taxgirl® was born. Today, I live and work in Philadelphia, PA, one of the best cities in the world (I can't even complain about the sports teams these days). I landed in the City of Brotherly Love by way of Temple University School of Law. While at law school, I interned at the estates attorney division of the IRS. At IRS, I participated in the review and audit of federal estate tax returns. I even took the lead on a successful audit. At audit, opposing counsel read my report, looked at his file and said, “Gentlemen, she’s exactly right.” I nearly fainted. It was a short jump from there to practicing, teaching, writing and breathing tax.

Daylight Saving Time Extension Was Part Of Energy, Tax Package: Was It Worth It?

If it feels like Daylight Savings Time (DST) was creeping up on you again this year, you’re right. Daylight Saving Time has been making an appearance earlier in the year over the past decade – but it’s a trend that we’ve been seeing for the last fifty years.

Prior to 1966, laws setting dates for Daylight Saving Time were somewhat fluid. The United States adopted an official DST during World War I but the unpopular law was removed soon afterwards. It continued to be observed sporadically in some states until World War II, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt again signed temporary DST into law. As before, the unpopular law didn’t continue after the war.

That all changed in 1966, when President Lyndon Johnson signed a bill into law calling for Daylight Saving Time to begin on the last Sunday of April and end on the last Sunday of October each year. The dates were tweaked again, twenty years later, under Ronald Reagan who amended DST to begin at 2 a.m. on the first Sunday of April and end at 2 a.m. on the last Sunday of October. Just about twenty years later (notice a trend?), President Bush signed into law a new energy policy bill, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (downloads as a pdf) that extended DST by a whopping four weeks. That’s the same schedule we’re on today.

You can see the most recent dates for beginning and ending Daylight Saving Time in the U.S. compared to the European Union in this chart prepared by NASA:

The beginnings of Daylight Saving Time are often credited to Benjamin Franklin. The idea appeared in his 1784 essay, “An Economical Project,” though many are quick to point out that the essay was considered to be satire. In the essay, Franklin calculates the hours spent burning candles and declares:

An immense sum! that the city of Paris might save every year, by the economy of using sunshine instead of candles.

Whether Franklin actually inspired DST or not, it’s clear that the underlying concept as he introduced it is what drives DST today: energy savings. In fact, energy policy bills – including related tax provisions – have generally been linked to amendments in the DST. The latest law, The Energy Policy Act of 2005, is no exception.

The 2005 Energy Policy Act was a massive bill carved out after several years of debate. At the center of the controversy was whether energy policy should favor fossil fuels or more modern trends towards solar and wind. The result was a mishmosh of new rules and tax credits meant to cement the U.S. commitment towards a more solid energy policy. Whether that happened is still a matter of contention.

What did come out of the Act was a trend towards offering tax credits as energy policy incentives. For example, the Act introduced tax credits for fuel efficient vehicles (hybrid vehicles) to taxpayers. The credits were limited by make and model: you can see the list as it appeared for 2005 and 2006 vehicles here. That particular credit, which allowed up to $3,400 in tax credits on qualifying vehicles expired in 2010. Today, other tax credits still exist for certain electric cars and plug-in hybrids.

Also included in the 2005 Energy Policy Act? The federal tax credit for residential energy property which initially only applied to solar-electric systems, solar water heating systems and fuel cells. Three years later, the credit was expanded to include small wind-energy systems and geothermal heat pumps. The credit remains in place through December 31, 2016.

The Act also introduced a credit for energy efficiency improvements to residential homes – those improvements included the purchase of certain doors, windows, insulation and the like. The maximum tax credit was originally $500 for improvements made in 2006 and 2007. The Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008 brought the credit back for 2009 and 2010 and boosted the cap to $1,500. The credit was extended again in 2010 for the years 2011, 2012, and 2013 but the amount of the cap dropped back to $500. The credit was not extended in the latest round of extenders in 2013 and doesn’t apply to improvements made in 2014.

Other tax provisions under the Act were generally targeted towards corporate taxpayers and included tax credits for certain research and development activities and solar investments.

So why extend the DST so significantly as part of an Act so clearly targeted to energy policy? Supposedly, energy savings. The idea is that extending daylight hours will cut energy consumption. If the day seems longer because it’s light out longer, it should follow that there would be less demand for electricity in the evenings. But that may not actually be true. While studies indicate a slight change in demand in the evenings, some studies have indicated that any savings are offset by more energy demand in the morning.

And where you live makes a difference. A study of energy savings in the U.S. in 2007 indicated that energy savings in cooler climates were offset by increased demand for cooling in warmer climates. Environmental economist Hendrik Wolff, of the University of Washington, the same scientist who studied the morning/evening environment offset, found, “Everywhere there is air conditioning, our evidence suggests that daylight saving is a loser.”

It also appears to cost us money. In 2010, Utah State University economist William F. Shughart II suggested that turning the clocks forward and backwards each year costs Americans $1.7 billion of lost opportunity cost each year. His calculations assumed that each person over the 18 spent about 10 minutes changing clocks instead of doing something else more productive.

Whether it makes us more or less productive will continue to be a matter of debate. Most Americans don’t see the benefit of Daylight Saving Time: only 37% believe it to be worth the hassle in a 2013 Rasmussen poll (down from 45% in 2012). Are you one of them?

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Of all the loathsome, idiotic things the government does, nothing is as irritating as tweaking our method of timekeeping twice a year. It’s an insipid idea, and then to have DST kick in earlier and earlier is even more annoying. It’s like having jet lag twice a year without traveling. I wish that daylight savings time would go away and stay away forever. I detest daylight savings time.

Not to mention more car accidents at the start of Daylight Savings Time. Or the millions of Americans who got ready for work in the dark this morning. For a group of people who complain about invasive government, this is an interesting exception to make.

It is a silly, irritating, dysfunctional move we make twice a year with NO energy savings, just a shift in demand. When EPACT 2005 was being deliberated, someone wrote a comprehensive book supporting those findings. Solution is to split the difference once and stop.

How about this, let’s call it quits. This is an outdated, expensive, unhealthy, and dangerous program that is no longer needed. We can get started ending this and finally start getting rid of these outdated programs and start to make this country better. Sign this petition and put an end to DST.